Sakho said: "It's cool for me to be on the pitch. It's magnificent. When I see the Crystal Palace fans against Chelsea. I turned round to see them, walked towards them ... I don't have words to describe it."

Mamadou Sakho (right) has been in excellent form for Crystal Palace.

Sakho was the subject of an anti-doping probe in April 2016 and was cleared by a UEFA board in July after being suspended for 30 days.

Regarding his ban, the former Paris Saint-Germain player said: "There was incomprehension, anger, because I had worked a lot. Then I said to myself, 'C'est la vie!'

"When I saw my wife crying for three or four days, I said to myself, 'Mamad, it's unfair. You're going to work. You get up at seven every morning, you work hard.' Yes, I was the person who was there to reassure her, I didn't have a choice.

"My mum said to me, 'Mamad, do you realise that you haven't spent as much time here since you were 13?' That made me realise it's true. With this job, you don't have much time for the 'real things.'

"I was late, that happens in every squad, I paid a fine. I don't know what more I can do. It's the boss, he made his decision. You have to respect it."

Looking to the future, Sakho added: "I had the objective of the Euros, I missed it, I was made to miss it. Now the World Cup is an objective. I'm only 27, I'm young, determined, with the same desire, above all the same person. You don't change your mentality."